4.  The applicant was born in 1961 and lives in Gdańsk.
5.  On 31 March 1999 the applicant was arrested on suspicion of armed robbery. On 1 April 1999 the Gdańsk District Court remanded him in custody in view of the reasonable suspicion that he had committed armed robbery and had unlawfully possessed a firearm. It also found that there was a risk that the applicant might go into hiding, tamper with evidence or obstruct the proceedings by other unlawful means.
6.  Later, several other persons were detained and charged in connection with the same investigation conducted by the Department of Organised Crime of the Gdańsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office.
7.  On 24 June 1999 the Gdańsk Regional Court prolonged the applicant’s detention until 30 September 1999. It relied on the need to obtain and secure further evidence. On 15 September 1999 the Gdańsk Court of Appeal prolonged the applicant’s detention until 31 December 1999, reiterating the grounds previously given for his detention and adding that the measure was also justified by the severity of the anticipated penalty.
8.  On 8 December 1999 the Gdańsk Court of Appeal extended his detention until 30 March 2000, relying on the grounds previously given for his detention. It underlined the serious nature of the offences with which the applicant had been charged and the need to obtain further expert evidence.
9.  On 30 March 2000 the Supreme Court extended the applicant’s detention until 30 June 2000. It found that the strong suspicion that he had committed the serious offences with which he had been charged, the severity of the anticipated penalty and the risk of his tampering with evidence justified holding him in custody. It also relied on the complexity of the case.
10.  On 24 May 2000 the Supreme Court extended the applicant’s detention until 15 December 2000, invoking the same grounds as given in its earlier decision. In addition, it found that the present case was “particularly complex” within the meaning of Article 263 § 4 of the Code of Criminal Procedure due to, inter alia, the nature of the offences and the number of suspects involved.
11.  On 13 December 2000 the Gdańsk Court of Appeal extended the applicant’s and his eight co-accused’s detention until 31 March 2001.
12.  On 7 March 2001 the Gdańsk Court of Appeal prolonged the applicant’s detention until 31 May 2001. It relied on the reasonable suspicion that the applicant had committed the offences with which he had been charged and the severity of the anticipated penalty. The Court of Appeal further held that detention on remand was the only measure which could secure the proper conduct of the proceedings given the nature of the charges and the relations between the accused, all members of an organised criminal gang. It also considered that the prolongation of detention was justified by the need to obtain DNA evidence in order to corroborate evidence previously obtained.
13.  Since on 30 March 2001 the applicant’ s detention had reached the statutory time‑limit of two years laid down in Article 263 § 3 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, further prolongation of his detention was ordered by the Gdańsk Court of Appeal. The Gdańsk Court of Appeal gave decisions on the applicant’s detention on 23 May 2001 and 24 October 2001, prolonging it respectively until 31 October 2001 and 31 March 2002.
14.  On 15 May 2001 the prosecution filed a bill of indictment with the Gdańsk Regional Court. The applicant was charged with several dozen counts of armed robbery which had been committed while acting in an organised armed criminal group. The bill of indictment listed 120 charges brought against 19 defendants, who all were detained on remand. The case‑file comprised 114 volumes. The prosecution asked the court to hear evidence from 366 witnesses.
15.  The trial began on 28 December 2001. However, as of 22 April 2002 the reading out of the bill of indictment by the prosecution had still not been concluded. Initially, the trial court held three hearings per month.
16.  On 13 March 2002 the Court of Appeal ordered that the applicant and his seven co-defendants be held in custody until 30 September 2002. It considered that the trial could be terminated by the last-mentioned date. In addition to the grounds previously invoked, the Court of Appeal found that the prolongation of detention was justified under Article 263 § 4 of the Code of Criminal Procedure by the particular complexity of the case. It further observed that the delays in the trial were partly attributable to some of the defendants who had attempted to disrupt the proceedings and, consequently, had to be removed from the court room during a hearing on 30 January 2002. The Court of Appeal instructed the trial court to hold more than 3 hearings per month. Furthermore, it held that no other preventive measure could secure the proper conduct of the trial. In that respect, the Court of Appeal observed that there was a reasonable risk that the applicant and other defendants might interfere with the proceedings, given the nature of the charges, the severity of the anticipated penalty and the fact that such attempts had been made in the course of the investigation.
17.  On 11 September 2002 the Court of Appeal prolonged the applicant’s and his nine co-defendants’ detention until 31 December 2002. In addition to the grounds previously relied on, it considered that the applicant’s detention was justified under Article 258 § 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure since that provision established a presumption to the effect that the likelihood of a severe penalty being imposed on the applicant might induce him to obstruct the proceedings. It also noted that the prolongation of his detention was justified by the volume of evidence to be heard in the trial.
18.  On 18 December 2002 the Court of Appeal ordered that the applicant and his 17 co-defendants be kept in custody until 30 June 2003. It held that the grounds invoked in its previous decisions were still valid.
19.  On 25 June 2003 the Court of Appeal prolonged the applicant’s and eighteen of his co-defendant’s detention until 31 December 2003, relying on the same grounds as given previously. In addition, it observed that the trial could not have been terminated due to obstructiveness on the part of the defendants who had filed numerous requests challenging the trial court. It also noted that the trial court had taken various procedural steps in order to accelerate the proceedings.
20.  Subsequently, the Court of Appeal prolonged the applicant’s detention on several occasions. The relevant decisions were given on 17 December 2003 (prolonging his detention until 30 June 2004), 23 June 2004 (extending his detention until 31 December 2004), 15 December 2004 (ordering his continued detention until 31 March 2005), 30 March 2005 (prolonging his detention until 30 June 2005) and 22 June 2005 (extending his detention until 30 September 2005). In all those decisions the Court of Appeal stated that the grounds previously given for the applicant’s detention were still valid. It also stressed the exceptionally complex nature of the case.
21.  In its decision on the applicant’s detention of 23 June 2004, the Court of Appeal observed that up to April 2003 the main reason for the delays during the trial was the obstructiveness of the defendants and the abuse of the rights of the defence. It also observed that the trial could be concluded by the end of 2004 provided that the Regional Court endeavoured to organise the trial efficiently.
22.  In its decision of 27 July 2005 dismissing the applicant’s appeal against the decision of 22 June 2005 prolonging his detention, the Court of Appeal referred, inter alia, to the presumption established under Article 258 § 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and held that that presumption alone justified the applicant’s continued detention. It also held that keeping the applicant in custody was necessary in order to prevent him from interfering with the trial, given the reasonable risk of such interference which flowed from the fact that he had been charged with commission of offences as a member of an organised criminal group.
23.  By March 2006 the trial court had held some 135 hearings of the 162 which had been scheduled. It heard more than 400 witnesses.
24.  During the proceedings the applicant filed numerous but unsuccessful applications for release and appealed, likewise unsuccessfully, against the decisions prolonging his detention.
25.  On 21 March 2005 the Gdańsk Regional Court made a severance order with a view to expediting the proceedings, and thereafter four defendants (J.N., G.P., Z.S. and Z.C.), who in the meantime had been released from detention, were to be tried separately.
26.  After 20 June 2005 no hearing was held due to the serious illness of the judge rapporteur. On 21 September 2005 the President of the IV Criminal Section of the Gdańsk Regional Court assigned a new judge rapporteur. Consequently, the trial had to commence de novo.
27.  On 20 September 2005 the Court of Appeal prolonged the applicant’s detention until 31 January 2006. The applicant appealed against that decision. On 18 October 2005 a different panel of the Court of Appeal quashed the impugned decision and ordered the applicant’s release under police supervision. It also imposed on him a prohibition on leaving the country. The Court of Appeal had regard to the fact that the trial had to commence de novo and that the applicant had already spent a few years in pre-trial detention.
28.  The applicant was released on 19 October 2005.
29.  On 24 November 2005 the trial court made a further severance order and divided the case into eleven separate cases.
30.  It appears that the proceedings are still pending before the first‑instance court.